Orthodontic treatment involves the movement of malpositioned teeth to desired positions. During typical treatment, orthodontic brackets are connected to anterior, cuspid, molar, and bicuspid teeth, and an archwire is placed in a slot of each bracket. The archwire guides movement of the brackets and the corresponding teeth to desired positions to correct occlusion. Traditionally, the ends of an archwire have been anchored by appliances known as buccal tubes that are secured to molar teeth (e.g., utilizing bands). More recently, archwire ends are increasingly being secured utilizing buccal tubes bonded directly to molar teeth (e.g., free from use of buccal tubes welded to bands).
Various types of spring devices and elastomeric devices may also be used in orthodontic treatment. The resilient forces of such devices in tension or compression may be used to secure an orthodontic appliance and an interconnected tooth or teeth and correspondingly facilitate movement relative to other orthodontic appliances and an interconnected tooth or teeth. For example, elastomeric rings may be employed as ligatures to secure an archwire in a slot of a bracket. As another example, elongated elastomeric devices (e.g., a chain of interconnected elastomeric ligatures) may be stretched between selected brackets in order to move certain teeth relative to other teeth. Yet other spring devices may be specifically designed to separate adjacent teeth or to rotate a tooth about its longitudinal axis.
The orthodontic treatment of some patients includes correction of the alignment of the maxillary dental arch and the mandibular dental arch. For example, certain patients have a condition referred to as a Class II malocclusion where the lower dental arch is located an excessive distance rearward of the upper dental arch when the jaws are closed. Other patients may have an opposite condition referred to as a Class III malocclusion wherein the lower dental arch is located forward of the upper dental arch when the jaws are closed.
Orthodontic treatment of Class II and Class III malocclusions typically entails movement of the maxillary dental arch (e.g., teeth comprising the maxillary arch) and/or movement of the mandibular dental arch (e.g., teeth comprising the mandibular arch). For such purposes, an activation force is often applied to teeth of each dental arch by applying a force to brackets, archwire or attachments connected to the brackets or archwires. These orthodontic appliances promote malocclusion treatment by restraining jaw movement which results in the biological response by the jaw and facial muscles that progressively corrects the malocclusion.
Additional forces can be added to the orthodontic appliance to apply a further corrective force that accelerate treatment and provide a biasing force as the patient reaches ends of the range of motion for the orthodontic appliance, adding to patient comfort. However, current solutions in orthodontic appliances suffer from problems with breakage and disengagement between the components of the orthodontic alliance, particularly if the patient opens their mouth beyond the functional range of the appliance or if appliance components are disengaged due to an external force. Solutions to these problems reduce patient comfort by extending the appliance beyond lengths needed to carry out treatment.
Orthodontic appliances generally extend between two or more teeth in the patient's dentition to apply the corrective forces. The orthodontic appliance can be secured on or about a tooth using a variety of techniques. Each of these techniques create significant drawbacks when an orthodontist desires to add an orthodontic appliance to the treatment of a patient once the patient has already been treated with braces (e.g., an archwire and bracket and/or buccal tubes). At a minimum, the addition of the orthodontic appliance requires complete or partial removal of the archwire such as to connect the orthodontic appliance to the archwire. In other cases, the existing bracket or buccal tube must be removed and replaced in order to add a specialized bracket or buccal tube or to add a molar band on the patient's tooth before replacing the buccal tube. All of this work takes orthodontist and patient time, increases treatment cost, and is discomforting to the patient. Furthermore, if an orthodontic appliance is to be removed, replaced, or repaired, often similar steps are required at the expense of time, money, and patient comfort.